Executive Leadership

Driving continued growth, success and achievement

Chairman, President and CEO, Allergan

Brenton L. Saunders

Brent Saunders is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergan plc. Mr. Saunders has served as a Director, CEO and President since July 2014.

Brent Saunders is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergan plc. Mr. Saunders has served as a Director, CEO and President since July 2014. He was elected Chairman in 2016. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Forest Laboratories and as a Director of Forest since 2011. Mr. Saunders has significant healthcare industry expertise and a proven track-record leading business transformations and integrations.
Prior to Forest, Mr. Saunders was Chief Executive Officer of Bausch + Lomb, a leading global eye health company, serving in this capacity from March 2010 until August 2013. Mr. Saunders also held several leadership positions at Schering-Plough, including the position of President of Global Consumer Health Care, and was named head of integration for the company’s merger with Merck & Co. and for Schering-Plough’s acquisition of Organon BioSciences. Before joining Schering-Plough, Mr. Saunders was a partner and head of Compliance Business Advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Prior to that, he was Chief Risk Officer at Coventry Health Care and Senior Vice President, Compliance, Legal and Regulatory at Home Care Corporation of America. Earlier in his career, Mr. Saunders served as Chief Compliance Officer for the Thomas Jefferson University Health System.
Mr. Saunders serves on the Board of Directors of Cisco Systems and RWJBarnabas Health, and is a member of the Business Council and PhRMA. He is also the former Chairman of the New York chapter of the American Heart Association. Mr. Saunders earned his MBA from Temple University School of Business, his J.D. from Temple University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

EVP & Chief Commercial Officer

William Meury

Bill Meury is the Chief Commercial Officer, and has served in this role since May 2016.

Mr. Meury previously served as President, Branded Pharma from March 2015 to May 2016. He joined the Company in July 2014 as Executive Vice President, Commercial, North American Brands. He has significant experience in launching and commercializing healthcare products.
Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Meury served as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Forest Laboratories, Inc. He joined Forest in 1993 and held multiple roles of increasing responsibility in Marketing, New Products, Business Development, and Sales. Before joining Forest, Mr. Meury worked in public accounting for Reznick Fedder & Silverman and in financial reporting for MCI Communications.
Mr. Meury is currently on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including The Jed Foundation, International Council of Ophthalmology Foundation, and The Allergan Foundation. Mr. Meury earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Maryland.

EVP & Chief Financial Officer

Matt Walsh

Mr. Walsh joined Allergan in February 2018 as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Walsh brings a unique combination of strong financial experience and a deep understanding of the healthcare industry with a proven track record of managing complex organizations.
Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Walsh served as EVP, CFO at Catalent for 10 years. Before Catalent, Mr. Walsh was President, CFO and Acting CEO at Escala Group, Inc. He previously held a variety of finance leadership roles at GenTek, Inc., including Vice President-Finance & Chief Financial Officer, Vice President & Treasurer and Group Controller.
Mr. Walsh is a CFA® charterholder. He received an MBA from Cornell University, SC Johnson School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, College of Engineering.

EVP & Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

A. Robert D. Bailey

Bob Bailey is the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, and has served in this role since July 2014.

Previously, Mr. Bailey served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Forest Laboratories, Inc.
Mr. Bailey previously served from 2007 to 2013 as Executive Vice President, Law, Policy and Communications at Bausch + Lomb, and was with the company for more than 16 years. Before joining Bausch + Lomb in 1994, Mr. Bailey was an attorney at Nixon Peabody (formerly Nixon Hargrave Devans & Doyle).
Mr. Bailey is a member of the US Chamber Litigation Board of Directors. He earned his law degree from the University of Minnesota and his undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.

EVP & Chief Human Resources Officer

Karen L. Ling, Esq.

Karen Ling is the Chief Human Resources Officer, and has served in this role since July 2014.

She previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Forest Laboratories, Inc. from January to July 2014.
Prior to joining Forest, Ms. Ling served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources at Merck & Co., for the company’s Global Human Health and Consumer Care businesses worldwide beginning in November 2011. Previously, she served as Vice President, Compensation and Benefits at Merck and Group Vice President, Global Compensation & Benefits at Schering-Plough (which was acquired by Merck). Prior to joining Schering-Plough in 2008, Ms. Ling spent 14 years at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in various positions of responsibility in human resources and in Wyeth’s Labor and Employment Department. Before joining Wyeth, Ms. Ling was an attorney at Goldstein and Manello, P.C. in Boston.
Ms. Ling is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Glaucoma Foundation, Inc., a non-for-profit organization. She earned J.D. from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. from Yale University.

EVP & Chief R&D Officer

C. David Nicholson, PhD

David Nicholson is the Chief R&D Officer, and has served in this role since March 2015.

Dr. Nicholson joined the company (then Actavis) as Senior Vice President, Global Brands R&D in August 2014. He has been in research and development in the pharmaceutical industry since 1978.
Previously, he served as Chief Technology Officer and EVP, R&D for Bayer CropScience from March 2012 to August 2014; Senior Vice President of Licensing and Knowledge Management at Merck from 2009 to December 2011; and Senior Vice President, responsible for Global Project Management and Drug Safety at Schering-Plough from 2007 to 2009. From 1988 to 2007, Dr. Nicholson held various leadership positions at Organon, where he most recently served as Executive Vice President, R&D and was a member of the company’s Executive Management Committee.
Dr. Nicholson earned his B.Sc. from the University of Manchester and his Ph.D. from the University of Wales.

EVP & Chief Communications Officer

Alex Kelly

Alex Kelly is the EVP, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, and has served in this role since April 20, 2015.

Previously, Mr. Kelly served as Senior Vice President, Chief Integration Officer since July 2014. In this role, he led the integration of Forest Laboratories following its acquisition by Actavis. He also co-led the integration of Allergan.
Prior to joining Actavis, Mr. Kelly was Senior Vice President, Chief Communications Officer, Public Affairs and Investor Relations at Forest Laboratories. In that role, he led Forest’s corporate communications and investor relations programs. While at Forest, Mr. Kelly led the integration of Aptalis Pharma following its acquisition in January 2014. Prior to Forest, Mr. Kelly served as Vice President, Investor Relations at Bausch + Lomb. Mr. Kelly was Senior Vice President, Investor Relations at Merck & Co., Inc. following the combination with Schering-Plough where he led the Global Communications and Investor Relations team. He previously worked for Novartis as Executive Director, Investor Relations, after spending 14 years at Pharmacia, including ten years in pharmaceutical sales and sales management and four years in investor relations.
Mr. Kelly currently serves on multiple Boards and Committees, including the California Life Sciences Association, The Allergan Foundation, and the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Purdue University, where he graduated Cum Laude.

EVP, Global Operations

Wayne R. Swanton

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Swanton served as Senior Vice President, Global Operations of Allergan.

He joined the company (then Watson) in March 2012 as Vice President, Global Supply Chain. Mr. Swanton brings expertise to all aspects of the end-to-end supply chain, including procurement, planning, manufacturing, external supply, quality and distribution. He has extensive leadership experience in global pharmaceutical operations and managing significant business transformations.
Prior to joining Allergan, Mr. Swanton held various roles at Abbott Laboratories in finance, supply chain, project management and manufacturing operations in both local and global capacities.
Mr. Swanton is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, UK.

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